Neurosciences Postdoctoral Scholars, Brain Resilience Track (Alumni)

Jacob is a postdoctoral scholar in the Clandinin lab working to understand the molecular functions of sleep, and why sleep is so important for brain health. He is using genetic and neuroimaging methods to explore how neurons regulate energy usage during sleep using fruit flies as a model system. Jacob studied Physics and Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley before completing his graduate work in Biological Engineering at MIT with Alan Jasanoff where he engineered molecular sensors for functional MRI.

Hannah Ennerfelt aims to understand how the immune system contributes to neurodegeneration. As a postdoctoral fellow advised by Dr. Katrin Andreasson, she researches the mechanisms by which immune cells drive Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive aging. Hannah received her bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology from Salisbury University. She began her studies in neuroimmunology as a Fulbright fellow at Uppsala University in Sweden. Hannah then obtained her Ph.D. in neuroscience in the lab of Dr.

Eloise is a jointly appointed postdoctoral fellow, advised by Dr. Montine and Dr. Nima Aghaeepour. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Graphics from the University of Paris-Saclay, with her doctoral research focusing on developing AI algorithms to enhance 3D facial animation editing. Currently, Eloise is working on developing new AI methods to analyze and interpret high-dimensional spatial omic data, aiming to identify molecular, morphological, and imaging Alzheimer’s disease resilience signatures.

Takeshi Uenaka is a neurologist and neuroscientist studying neurodegenerative diseases by using human stem cell-derived neuron, astrocyte, and microglia. Takeshi received his medical degree from Kobe University, Japan, in 2007 and worked for 10 years as a neurologist. He completed his Ph.D. in neuroscience at Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan, in 2019. As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Marius Wernig, he is working to model disease environment in vitro having the above 3 cell types and to assess the interaction between microglia and intraneuronal protein aggregation.

Ravi Nath is investigating mechanisms that promote resilience to neurodegenerative diseases. As a postdoctoral scholar in Anne Brunet’s lab, Ravi is pioneering an emerging short-lived vertebrate model system—the African turquoise killifish—to investigate the role of sleep in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Ravi built a longitudinal tracking system to explore how sleep changes across lifespan and in the context of neurodegenerative disease.

Yi studies the mechanisms of neurodegeneration as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Professor Aaron Gitler. He completed his Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Chicago under the supervision of Prof. Jon Staley. At Uchicago, Yi studied the mechanisms of co-transcriptional splicing and RNA export. At Stanford, he is studying how RNA processing is misregulated during neurodegeneration, focusing on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

My expertise is in the areas of regeneration, evolution, the nervous system and cell biology. I use a marine colonial tunicate, Botryllus schlosseri, characterized by having robust regenerative capabilities and an assayable and frequent (weekly) CNS (Central nervous system) tissue regeneration and loss throughout adult life. I believe that comparative studies on a simple chordate can help us elucidate the principal mechanisms that are the foundation of regeneration and aging.

Daniela Rojo is a genetic neuroscientist studying gene expression regulation in myelin-forming glia. As a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr. Erin Gibson, Daniela aims to decipher the role of the molecular circadian clock in myelin-forming glia and evaluate how its genetic disruption affects neurodegenerative disorders of dysregulated myelination like multiple sclerosis. From Argentina, Daniela Rojo completed her PhD at the Institute of Research in Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology in Buenos Aires under the supervision of Dr. Marcelo Rubinstein.